Data Privacy – Old News or New Issues?
I’ve been spending a lot of time working through data issues with a number of clients and friends and their companies. It’s odd (and good) that this is coming to light now, but I’m also beginning to see that this is both just the beginning and a much larger more persistent issue.
Many times now, as I talk with data companies, they talk about how they work with Big Data (oh, and by the way, what a silly term, we really need something better, but that’s a different issue altogether) and how they help you learn from these different data stores. Learn about your company, your customers, your trends, your information that you have stored, all in new and exciting ways. And, of course, it IS exciting and amazing. But the issue is that in many cases, it tramples all over any type of expectation of data privacy we all may have as well. The only way it works is if you can feed in a LOT of information, then begin massaging that information on the whole.
There is *huge* benefit here in terms of learning and making the most of the information we all store. I think we need to get more specific, not more general (which seems to be the trend in "privacy") about what really matters to be private and protected. Things that impact identity are really important (ID numbers, credit card numbers, that type of thing) but we have to be careful not to case the net so wide on what’s protected that we prevent the aggregate value of that data from being realized.
Note that I said aggregate – on the whole… using our collective experiences, actions, selections and so-on and then learning from that, improving on it, making things better – there is extraordinary potential and promise there. Frankly, I think it’s nothing short of the next societal lurch forward. But we have to get this expectation of privacy thing figured out. There are benefits to be had in sharing medical experiences and learning from what works, what doesn’t. The same is true of how people use web resources, offline retail, food, etc. There is so much information that can present such a great learning tool.
I’m not sure where the line in the sand is, perhaps it’s literally at unique identifiers, but beyond that, it’s more good than bad. I’m sure, in fact I KNOW people won’t agree with that, but I think it’s important to determine and start workting toward that line in the sand, figuring this out.
There is so much good, so much learning and advancement of our world that can be had, but we have to figure out how we share our experiences, how we do social learning and feel OK about the use of the information.
Where is that line? I hope we start working toward defining it, sooner than later.
What do you think? Let me know…